Introduction

Web Literacy is quickly becoming the fourth literacy,
yet it’s often not integrated into the classroom. This
sample curriculum was created to help teachers integrate
Webmaking into their standards based curriculum
through a project based learning method that uses
the Web as it’s platform.

Special knowledge about the web is not required to
run a version of this curriculum in your classroom. The
only thing your students need to be able to do is open
a browser and use a mouse.

Learning Objectives

The goal of this curriculum is to help learners plan and
develop a collaborative web project and think critically
about the subjects and topics you choose.

Students will learn how to work together to solve problems
in a digital environment. Webmaker skills will be
presented and developed and learners will develop a
base understanding of terms and processes used in
Webmaking. At the end of the project, students should
know a variety of collaborative tools that they can use
to express themselves on any topic, academic or other.

The Wordpress framework plays a major role in this
curriculum and students will learn the basics of the
blogging system and how to use certain tools within it.
Technical competencies surrounding the design process
are also covered in this curriculum. Tips and tricks
on the strategic planning and organization of content
will help students think critically about the choices they
make when creating.

Methods

The ability to create a collaborative project using the
Web as the communication, planning and development
platform is only attainable through practice. For this
reason, a project based method is the best choice.

At Mozilla, we believe that learning is an active process.
Many of our programs are built with constructivist
theories in mind. This curriculum supports knowledge
construction as opposed to knowledge reproduction.

The first step in opening the door to Webmaking is
the perceptual understanding of collaborative web
practice. This curriculum will help students develop an
interest in technical and communicative skills as their
desire to participate in the landscape of the web grows.

Since this curriculum proposes a great deal of self-organized
collaborative work, the students will need
to organize their time effectively. They will have to
navigate the flexibility of their own project time line in
combination with the class project deadline. Time management,
group cohesion and cooperation are other
lessons this curriculum aims to transfer.

Content and Flow

Time Requirements

Because coming to a decision or answering a complex
question can take longer when digital communication
replaces face-to-face communication, this course
is broken up into four phases that span a total of six
weeks. The four phases are meant to run in sequential
order and the content is prepared in a way that should
leave plenty of time for the successful development of
a full fledged project. Furthermore, the timing is such
that the priorities and wishes of the learner can be
worked in.

Phases

Introduction Phase

In the first phase, the project is introduced to the
students. This phase can take place in the classroom or
as a synchronous, virtual video conference. Choose a
specific theme or topic that you want your students to
explore and modify the project outline below to fit your
topic.

Then, separate students into groups. Keep the groups
under five people per group to ensure maximal participation.
Try to put students together that have similar
interests, but varying competencies in digital media
and the subject you’re basing the project around. Give
your students some tips on how to work together. Talk
to them about respecting each others opinions, division
of labor, Netiquette, turn-taking, etc.

Next introduce the project and answer any questions
your students might have about your requirements.
Think of innovative ways you can use peer assessment
to inspire students to maintain a good work ethic, and explain these assessment procedures to your students.

You might want to give some quick crash courses on
setup and basic usage of the collaborative tools you
plan to use over the course of the project.

Group Dynamics Phase

After the introduction phase, give your students some
time to get to know each other. Trust is an important
issue in group work, so this phase is designed to
circumnavigate typical problems and get group members
cooperating despite the difficulties that come
with working collaboratively through communication
technology.

Project Concept Phase

This phase gives the groups two weeks to determine
their project theme and prepare a presentation for the
instructor and the other groups.

Design and Development Phase

The last three weeks of the project are for designing
and developing. Groups will learn Wordpress. You
should give a thorough intro to the platform to help
students get started.

Technology

Video conferences, Etherpad, Chat and Email are recommended
media. In today’s web landscape there are
hundreds of solutions for communication tools, and
everyone has his or her favorite. All of these tools have
pros and cons. One of the learning goals is the ability
to effectively collaborate, so allow groups to choose
the tools that help them develop that ability.

Supervision

In classical forward facing classes, the students have a
passive role and the instructor has an active role. This
dynamic is the absolute opposite in this project. You’ll
act more as a project manager and allow students to
explore their project theme and the communication
tools on their own.

Lastly, have fun with it! Just provide your students with
motivation and support and see what kinds of amazing
ideas they have.

Hack the Project Outline

The next section of this curriculum is the sample project
outline. This outline is meant to serve as a jumping
off point for you. We hope that you will ignore pieces
that you don’t feel apply and expand areas where you
feel your students need more guidance.

In short, we hope that you will take it, hack it, run it
in your classroom and then let us know how we can
improve the base curriculum.

Project Outline

You and your group will collaborate to create a Wordpress
site that:

introduces each member of your group

critically and creatively explores a theme related to Filmmaking Example: „The History of Media“

presents a project narrative Example: „This project serves to introduce you to the History of Media. From the printing press to the digital revolution, this project explains the history of mass media. In our approach we...Every mass media...etc“

justifies the project narrative

presents detailed information on this theme from the perspective of the group as well as personal perspectives and thoughts on the development process through blogposts, demos and remixes.

shows an active collaboration through comments and discussion functions

clarifies important aspects and concepts related to filmmaking

allows simple social sharing

uses text, graphics, photographs, animations and other forms of media that are self made or have a Creative Commons license and properly attributes all sources.

Assignments

1: Ice Breaker

As a group, start an Etherpad (etherpad.mozilla.org).
Each member write a haiku in the Etherpad, then comment
on each other’s haikus.

2: Virtual Bash

Just hang out with your group and have a social hour
over video chat. Try Google Hangouts or use Skype
Conferencing. Or meet up in person after school for an
hour.

3: Make Decisions

Discuss in your group:

who the moderator is (the moderator is responsible for sending weekly updates about the group work to the instructor)

what expected reaction times are (what’s the longest amount of time a group member has to react before the moderator „tells on“ them?)

when your groups weekly chat/video chat appointment is

which tools your group will use to communicate

why different perspectives are valuable

the voice of your project (serious, humorous, formal, informal, etc)

Document your decisions in an online document. Write
up how you came to your decisions and compose a
synopsis of the discussion help over varying perspectives.
Share this document with the instructor.

Assignments

1: Brainstorming the Theme

Discuss with your group possible theme ideas. Decide
on one and create the first version of your project
narrative. Each group member should compose a few
paragraphs about the collaborative process. These
paragraphs will later form the first blog post that will
be put into Wordpress.

2: Sketch a basic schematic and Make Design Decisions

In this project you will build a fully functioning website.

Write a general description of your user.

Write all the content bits and pieces out on little pieces of paper. Then, categorize the pieces. This exercise will give you a logical global navigation (and subnavigation if you have lots of content).